Energy

Think Green, Act Green

We stand at the precise moment of a transformational period in human history

a moment that requires further collaboration, solidarity and passion to build for a better world.

Accelerating the Transition to a Green Economy

The high ambitions for a greener future in Egypt are based on strong commitment, as well as capacity to unlock a green transformation in the country. Our mission has not just been to ‘think green’, but also to ‘act green’ in all of our projects and policies to help preserve the environment. Egypt works on solving environmental, social, and economic issues simultaneously, following a systematic twin-track approach to ensure that ‘green’ and ‘growth’ go together hand-in-hand. In Egypt, there are 34 projects within the Ministry of International Cooperation’s portfolio answering to SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy with a total of $5.95 billion thus making up for 23.2% of the ODA; the highest ODA financing. In the renewable energy, electricity and petroleum sector in 2020, the Ministry of International Cooperation signed major financing agreements totaling $677 million with the AfDB, the AFD, and EBRD. Most recently, Egypt issued the first green bonds in the MENA region, reaffirming its commitment to green financing and sustainable development projects.

Sustainable Energy Strategy

The Egyptian government is working to implement the Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy 2035, to meet the growing demand for energy with the increasing population, which includes increasing the use of renewable energy, improving efficiency in the energy sector, and increasing the share of renewable energy in the total energy produced by 42% of the country’s electricity by 2030.

Private Sector Engagement

Since the Renewable Energy Law (Decree Law 203/2014), the private sector has been encouraged to play a role in the country’s green transformation strategy and produce electricity from renewable energy sources. A number of initiatives have appeared in the market such as KarmSolar, which was the first private solar integrator in Egypt to obtain a license from the Egyptian Electricity Regulatory Agency. This helped Egypt become one of the region’s leading country in renewable energy in the recent 2020 Solar Outlook Report. The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) also recently won the EBRD’s Silver Award in the Sustainable Energy category for its commitment to innovation, as well as pioneering steps to promote equal opportunities and “green skills” for women in the country's growing renewable energy sector.

People at the Core

While its environmental benefits are well known, the socio-economic benefits of renewable energy are not as apparent. By putting people at the core, we recognize all the challenges and opportunities that people can face in regard to renewable energy. By investing in renewable energy, we are also investing in improving people’s employment, health and access to affordable energy.


We identify five opportunities for people when we invest in green growth: improving public health, creating more jobs, reducing future energy prices, reducing household electricity bills and carbon emissions.




Projects in Action

Based on the government’s vision and efforts to expand the use of renewable energy and push the green transformation, as well as Egypt’s hosting and presidency of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, the Ministry of International Cooperation is increasing joint work through various programs with multilateral and bilateral development partners, to reach a total of concessional development financing agreements. The grants signed during the period from 2020 to 2023 in the field of electricity and renewable energy amount to about $1.96 billion, from development partners including Germany, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the French Development Agency, and others.

At the top of these programs is the NWFE program, which includes an energy pillar through which the government aims to implement renewable energy projects with a capacity of 10GW to replace electricity projects powered by thermal energy with a capacity of 5GW.

In May 2022, the Arab Republic of Egypt launched the comprehensive national strategy for climate change for the year 2050, which included the Egyptian government’s targets at the level of relevant sectors, through a group of high-priority projects that will be implemented before 2030 (26 projects covering 5 main sectors, including Electricity, energy, food, and water), based on the three pillars of climate action (mitigation, adaptation, and enhancing flexibility and resilience to deal with losses and damages resulting from climate change), and using the principle of a just transition to a green and sustainable economy, as announced by the Nationally Updated Contributions (NDCs) to reduce emissions. By 2030. Based on these efforts, and regional and international studies, innovative solutions were explored that could advance climate action efforts to implement these strategies, through an integrated framework that implements priority projects to make the most of technical capabilities and financing. 

During July 2022, a unified national platform was established that aims to integrate climate projects with a unified national vision and unify the efforts of development partners, which is the NWFE program, as a national program that represents an effective regional model and an approach to facilitated and fair financing to deal with issues of adaptation, mitigation and resilience, through the pillar of connection between water, food and energy. 

A Year of Implementation: Celebrating one year of progress made in the NWFE programme.

The Ministry of International Cooperation launched the first follow-up report for the NWFE program, the pillar of the link between water, food, and energy, as well as the NWFE+ sustainable transportation pillar, during a high-level round table entitled “A Year of Implementation,” attended by H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, and the Ministers of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Environment, Agriculture, Land Reclamation, and Transport, along with the President of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and the President of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones; Development partners and heads of international financial institutions.


The report includes details of the efforts and achievements achieved throughout the year 2023 to implement the NWFE program to achieve the objectives of the National Climate Change Strategy to achieve sustainable economic growth and implement the Nationally Determined Contributions plan, as the energy pillar of the program works to stop the operation of 12 stations operating with traditional energy to stop 7 Millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and operating 10 GW solar and wind power plants (30 million MWh/annum) will save 17 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, saving $1.2 billion annually that would have been spent on providing the fuel needed to operate these plants.

One of the World’s Largest Solar Parks is in Egypt

The Benban solar park is the fourth largest solar park in the world, and has been implemented in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation. It houses 32 power plants and avoids 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year - equivalent of taking about 400,000 cars off the road.

It is also an example of how we can put people at the heart of sustainable and clean energy projects. Construction of the solar park helped diversify employment opportunities and improve livelihoods.

More than 10 000 Egyptians worked at the site during construction, and it also currently employs 4 000 people from various communities in Upper Egypt and Cairo.

More information about the NWFE program

Click here.